Study: Pot use among college students at highest level in 30 years

According to a new study from the University of Michigan, marijuana use among college students is at the highest level in 30 years.

Researchers said they’ve seen a steady increase over the past decade.

In 2016, 39 percent of full-time college students said they used marijuana at least once in the past year. Meanwhile, 22 percent said they used it at least once in the past 30 days.

Daily or near daily use of marijuana – defined it as having used 20 or more times in the prior 30 days — was at 4.9 percent in 2016.

"These continuing increases in marijuana use, particularly heavy use, among the nation's college students deserve attention from college personnel as well as students and their parents," said John Schulenberg, the current principal investigator of the Monitoring the Future follow-up study. "We know from our research and that of others that heavy marijuana use is associated with poor academic performance and noncompletion of college. Colleges are not simply inheriting this problem from high schools. Marijuana use has remained steady in recent years among the nation's high school seniors, so this increase among college students suggests it has something to do with college and young adulthood experiences."

Researchers said a likely reason for the increase in use is the idea that there is little risk of harm from regular marijuana use.